Facebook has offered up the most popular trends across its service in 2012, as well as a new feature that lets users check out their last year.

Facebook's 2012 Trends, which the social network compiles by analyzing the most popular topics across its service this year, doesn't offer up many surprises. This year's top event on Facebook was the U.S. presidential election, followed by Super Bowl XLVI and Whitney Houston's death. Superstorm Sandy and the London Olympics rounded out the top five.

"We Are Young" by Fun was this year's top song, followed by "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye and "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen. The most-talked-about movies on Facebook were "The Hunger Games," "The Avengers," and "Magic Mike."

With Facebook Places now in full swing, the social network also shared where most people told friends about their whereabouts. Not surprising to those who have been in the middle of thousands of people at one time, Times Square earned the most check-ins, followed by Disneyland and AT&T Park in California.

To add a bit more personalized fun for its users, Facebook has also launched a Year In Review feature for individual accounts. At the Year In Review page, Facebook users can see their personal 20 biggest events, "including life events, highlighted posts, and your most popular stories."

About the author

Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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